Digital Forty Four


Digital Forty Four was a Sydney-only trial datacasting service that was licensed by the Australian Broadcasting Authority beginning on 17 March 2004 for an initial three-year run until late 2007. The license was extended on several occasions past 2007, however on 29 January 2010 it was announced that Broadcast Australia's datacasting licence for Digital Forty Four would not be extended past 30 April 2010. At midnight on 30 April 2010, all services from Digital Forty Four ceased broadcasting.
The services provided at various times during its six years of operation have included a television guide for free-to-air television, a community service channel providing information on road, weather and surf conditions, with live broadcasts every fifteen minutes, the Australian Christian Channel, Expo shopping channel, NITV, Teachers TV information channel and live broadcasts of the meetings of the Australian Parliament, with audio-video coverage of the House of Representatives and Senate.

Channels

Under conditions associated with the datacasting licence, channels on the Digital Forty Four service had to be either text based or narrowcast services. Entertainment programming was not allowed on the service, however some programming on the Australian Christian Channel was shown in a reduced screen format with text content around it, as that satisfied the datacast requirement.
DVB nameLCNLaunch dateDiscontinued dateNotes
Channel 44200830 Apr 2010Video program guide for free-to-air and D44 channels.
NITV4027 Oct 200830 Apr 2010Existing subscription channel added to D44 service. Remains available on subscription satellite and cable television. Available free-to-air on LCN 33 via SBS since 12 December 2012.
ABC News, Sport and Weather4117 Mar 200430 Apr 2010Text only.
D44 Homepage4217 Mar 200430 Apr 2010Broadcast on LCN 44 prior to addition of TVS in March 2010. Simulcast on LCN 40 prior to addition of NITV on 27 Oct 2008.
Television Sydney44Mar 201030 Apr 2010Existing digital community television channel added to D44 service.
Teachers TV453 Nov 200830 Apr 2010Broadcast on LCN 47 until 30 June 2009.
Australian Christian Channel46200430 Apr 2010Existing subscription channel added to D44 service. Remains available on subscription satellite and cable television.
Federal Parliament House of Representatives4717 Mar 200430 Apr 2010Live video/audio feed of House of Representatives sessions.
Broadcast on LCN 401 until 3 November 2008, LCN 47 shared with Teachers TV from 2008-09.
Federal Parliament Senate4817 Mar 200430 Apr 2010Live video/audio feed of Senate sessions.
Broadcast on LCN 402 until 3 November 2008.
Expo49200630 Apr 2010Existing shopping channel added to D44 service. Still available on Foxtel subscription television.

Former Channels

As it was a long term trial, many channels that started on the service did not continue until the cessation of broadcasts.
DVB nameLCNLaunch dateDiscontinued dateNotes
Channel NSW4517 Mar 20041 Jul 2009Community channel broadcasting real time traffic, coast watch information and government announcements owned by the Government of New South Wales. Channel space replaced by Teachers TV.
Macquarie Digital4712 Oct 200411 Jun 2007Broadcast financial information. Owned by Macquarie Group.
SportsTAB4817 Mar 20041 Jan 2005Broadcast sports betting odds.
House of Representatives
Main Committee		40317 Mar 20043 Nov 2008Live video/audio feed of House of Representatives Main Committee sessions.
House of Representatives Committee Room 140417 Mar 20043 Nov 2008Live video/audio feed of House of Representatives Room 1 sessions.
House of Representatives Committee Room 240517 Mar 20043 Nov 2008Live video/audio feed of House of Representatives Room 2 sessions.
House of Representatives Committee Room 340617 Mar 20043 Nov 2008Live video/audio feed of House of Representatives Room 3 sessions.
House of Representatives Committee Room 440717 Mar 20043 Nov 2008Live video/audio feed of House of Representatives Room 4 sessions.

Legacy

The ACMA decided in closing the service that it was unlikely that datacast services would come to auction in the near future, and decided continuing the trial was unnecessary for that reason. NITV, which gained coverage on the service, considered the closure of the service a blow to its chances of gaining permanent spectrum for the service, and put the long term viability of the service into question.
Most of the other channels on Digital Forty Four are available unencrypted on satellite or via online streaming.